Gamerati mentioned in recent article Shadowrun Anarchy will be showing up at Gen Con. A trimmed down version of the rules for new players. Curious how this will differ from quick start rules.

There should just be a booklet in it that when you open it says 'There are no rules'

Kind of says something about a game's complexity when the quick start rules are still too complex for new players to use at a convention.

It's not that we mind rules, just the rule-makers

Missed opportunity here to call it the Neo-Anarchist's Guide To Conventioneering.

It's not a stripped-down version of the quick start rules, it's an alternate rules set you can convert characters/NPCs/whatever into, to run the game with a lighter, more narrative-oriented, system.

Hmmm. Seems interesting. Shadowrun World kinda already fills that niche, though.

But you're not going Apocalypse World on us, are you?

Does anybody have a link to this Article or a download? Where can I get my hands on this?

Hi,
Sunshine

It's not out yet. No ETA on a release yet.

Well, keep us updated. I'm very interested, as from what I hear Anarchy is being somewhat based on the Shadowrun Returns style of rules, and I'd be interested in trying it out on my group since we've never really stopped having teething issues with SR5.

Hopefully it's rules light enough for easy one shots.

Critias drops some sanctioned info over at rpg.net forums.
https://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?779798...ouncement/page9

Cautiously optimistic!

If it's Critias's work that does sound very promising - the Urban Brawl rules got very positive reviews that I saw.

Will that be for sale for the general problem later on?

Okay, my cautious optimism has run out.

This is apparently going to run on the Cue system they used for Valiant Universe, which is about as rules-light as they come... which is really a pretty poor decision so far as things I could think of to translate Shadowrun to. But hey, I suppose they already own the rights to the system, so it's got to be cheap at least!

http://www.shadowruntabletop.com/2016/07/s...-we-took-a-cue/

Uhm, wasn't that the expressed point of the whole exercise?

Anarchy is an interesting approach to the game at large, to be sure. Will be interesting to see how it develops.

I just hope it doesn't kill off the main line.

It shouldn't... It is a different Flavor of game...
It will likely appeal to those who have a dislike for the complexities of the mechanics in Shadowrun, but LOVE the World and the narrative thereof.

Everything has a price!

(Gimme 5 bucks even for this)

Sounds like a good move. A lot of people don't care for the mechanical complexity of SR and if they took it in half-steps it would be direct competition for the main line.

Now when I play with my lame, rules-lite friends, I will only cry a tiny bit

Anarchy does not mean there are no rules. But they better not have a GM.

Of course there is a GM. *shakes head*

Counter-revolutionary!

Anarcho-capitalism is considered by most anarchists (basically all who are not AnCaps themselves) to be as much anarchist as the DPRK is democratic

Also, does anyone possess (but not own as property, of course!) the Valiant rules and can enlighten us on them?

AJ over on the other forum had a pic someone from RPG.net had put up

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CpIL2_jVUAEDJBJ.jpg:large

It's Salish-Shidhe, not Salish-Sidhe, but oh well. I'm still interested.

The thread from RPG.net is a great source, Critias has ben dropping lots of information there.

And IMO the charsheet is still very recognizable as Shadowrun...would be interesting to see how the rigger looks like

Cool! Thanks, wasn't aware of that thread.

That's easily fixed since that's just a prototype meant to gauge reaction. Characters aren't quite etched in stone yet.

How dare you correct the sample characters, heresy!

Wait, they can do that?

Bets on it going to press as-is?

I'll take some of that....

Sure, whatta ya got?

I got a couple nuyen I can toss in on that action as well

Hopefully not. Sample characters without obvious omissions may sound like a small and innocent change, but those small deviations corrupt the soul, leading to weapons which load magazines and bear non-gratuitous foreign names! In one word, Heresy!

Shadowrun: Anarchy's cues and tags really reminds me of Dresden Files too. That had a very interesting character/world creation system. I am looking forward to this.

That sort of thing ("Aspects" in Fate/Dresden) really helps new players and GMs, so we're laying 'em on pretty thick here, yeah. Glad you think it looks good!

A bit more info from somebody who has the book

"Everything has a price unless it's critters" is in, initiative simply passes around the table, damage = net hits, armor is a "shield" providing extra hitpoints. Not sure how Ini enhancements are supposed to work in that system, but otherwise it does not sound bad. Also, there is the implicit admission that nobody can define what constitutes and attack and what doesn't

I have to say that all that in the Anarchy book for $5 has to be about the best bang to production quality buck I have seen in quite a while.

It looks like Ini enhancements (cyber, bio, magic, drugs?) give characters more Attack Actions... which is to say that they can attempt to hurt more than one person per turn.

Episode 90 of the Arcology Podcast starts out with a short summary of the prototype content: http://arcologypodcast.com/episode-090-anarchy-at-gen-con/

And Complex Action did a ~45m interview with O.C. Presley and Russell Zimmerman about Shadowrun: Anarchy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B7lAvAiUpEg

Looks better than I expected, but I'm keeping my own set of lean rules. Rolling buckets of D6 might define Shadowrun to some, but it sure is a way to slow down action resolution.

I'm a bit on the fence about armor being just extra HP...the other dice-free option of substracting armor from incoming damage would probably not work with the rather low damage values, but it just feels wrong...

It actually worked pretty well in our testing of the system.

You mean the "damage subtraction" or the "energy shield"?

Been a month or two since we participated in the Playtesting of Anarchy.
The Added toughness due to Armor worked out pretty well, since it was not over the top onerous.
Since it is a more narrative system, the mechanics really did take more of a backseat to the story that was being told. It was an enjoyable playtest.
There were a few bugs that we reported that needed to be adjusted, IIRC, but enjoyable nonetheless.

Looking forward to the completed product. Have yet to actually get it.

As a side note - My personal opinion was that while fun and enjoyable, FATE would have been a better System to use, as that was designed from the ground up to work as Anarchy emulates. But that is opinion only, as the system used for Anarchy did work pretty well for what it was going for. Kudos to the design team.